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Mr. McLoughlin : The information requested is given in the table. The 1992-93 figures exclude provision transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry with effect from 1 May 1992.
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|1991-92 (note 1)|1992-93 (note 2)
|£ million |£ million
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Youth Training and Training Credits
Programme costs |737.963 |698.549
Bridging allowance |8.375 |6.890
Employment Training
Programme costs |376.906 |339.526
Allowances |360.445 |310.516
Business and Enterprise |161.752 |149.264
Career Development Loans |5.860 |6.335
Grant Support training local authority
careers officers |0.584 |0.648
Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme |31.779 |1.758
Youth Enterprise Initiative |4.375 |4.900
Sources: 1991-92 Appropriation Accounts (October 1992) 1992-93 Class 6 Vote 1 Summer
Supplementary Estimate (June 1992).
Note 1: 1991-92 outturn is for England and Wales.
Note 2: 1992-93 provision is for England only.
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of employment training leavers in the Cumbria training and enterprise council found paid employment in (a) the 12 months to March 1991 and (b) the 12 months to March 1992.
Mr. McLoughin : The information is not available in the form requested. The table shows the proportion of ET leavers from Cumbria TEC who were in paid employment three months after leaving ET. Proportion of leavers from Cumbria TEC going into paid employment January 1990 to December 1990 leavers 41 per cent. January 1991 to December 1991 leavers 43 per cent. Source : ET national follow-up survey.
Notes :
(1) Paid employment=into full-time job, self-employment or part-time job three months after leaving ET.
(2) The figures are for those people who responded to the survey.
Appointments (Women)
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are her objectives for the numbers of women to be appointed to public bodies in order to fulfil her percentage targets by 1996 ; and what number of men will be appointed to public bodies over the same period.
Mr. McLoughlin : The goal is that by 1996 30 per cent. of the public appointments made by my Department should be held by women. The current objectives to achieve this goal were announced on 16 November in "Public Appointments and Equal Opportunities", which is available in the Library. It is, however, not possible to forecast the numbers of men and of women who will be appointed over this period.
Ms Mowlam : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how she will use greater publicity to interest women in public bodies.
Mr. McLoughlin : My right hon. Friend intends to launch a series of regional "opportunity shops" for women in the new year to promote women's participation in all areas of public life. Their aim will be to publicise the whole range of opportunities open to women, including appointments to public bodies, regional and community appointments and voluntary work as well as employment and training.
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Jobcentres
Ms. Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State (1) for Employment what are the staff to customer ratios at (a) the Haslingden (Rossendale) jobcentre and (b) the Rawtenstall (Rossendale) jobcentre ;
(2) if she will list the number of clients passing through (a) the Haslingden (Rossendale) jobcentre and (b) the Rawtenstall (Rossendale) jobcentre for each month since January ;
(3) what studies have been undertaken, to assess the viability of the Haslingden (Rossendale) jobcentre as an integrated
jobcentre/benefits office.
Mr. McLoughlin : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from M.E.G. Fogden to Ms. Janet Anderson, dated 24 November 1992 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Questions to her about Haslingden and Rawtenstall Jobcentres. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
My letter of 4 November explained that the decision to close the office at Haslingden was taken only after a full consultation process involving local interested parties. Prior to this, there had been a full review of the way services were being delivered in this part of Lancashire. A number of options were considered and it was concluded that we could make best use of our resources by transferring services to the new integrated office in Rawtenstall. Setting up an integrated office in Haslingden was not considered a feasible option because of the close proximity to the office in Rawtenstall ; the lack of suitable premises and the relatively small number of clients involved.
You asked for information about the nunber of clients passing through the local offices at Haslingden and Rawtenstall. Unfortunately, we do not have this information since we do not count numbers of people who use certain enquiry aspect of our services. Even if figures were available, however, they would not provide a safe basis for comparison between the offices because of the very different nature of the services being provided at Haslingden and Rawtenstall.
At Haslingden clients attend for information about job vacancies and to declare continuing unemployment, but the full range of services is not available. At Rawtenstall there is a wide range of services and clients regularly attend to make claims for benefit ; to declare their continuing unemployment ; to receive advice on benefit queries ; to be given help on jobsearch and for advisory interviews. Many people who use the Haslingden office need also to go to Rawtenstall for the wider range of help it provides.
There are three staff permanently based in Haslingden. They are primarily responsible for the delivery of services to aid jobsearch. At Rawtenstall there are 20.9 staff and two of them travel to Haslingden on one day per week to take evidence of unemployment. It is not possible to provide meaningful staff to customer ratios at either office.
Finally, let me reassure you that we monitor very closely the performance of our offices and keep our network closely under review.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committees of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
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Employment Agencies
Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will make a statement on the systems of licensing employment agencies ; why it is necessary to have such licences ; and what plans she has to abolish them.
Mr. McLoughlin : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is responsible only for the licensing system in the Employment Agencies Act 1973. We believe that some arrangement of this kind is necessary to safeguard the interests of users. Experience has shown that such protection is real.
Nevertheless, we are always concerned to reduce the number of licences involved in business activities wherever possible. We shall therefore keep the operation of the 1973 Act under review. Licensing systems for seamen's and nurses' agencies are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Health respectively.
Redundancies
Mr. Purchase : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies there have been in the west midlands in the last three months.
Mr. McLoughlin : Data on redundancies are now obtained from the quarterly labour force survey. The latest information available relates to spring 1992. This shows that in the three months prior to the survey 32,000 people were made redundant in the west midlands region.
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies in Renfrew district have been notified to her Department since July ; how many of these have been confirmed redundancies ; if she will publish a table breaking down these redundancies by employer, job centre, standard industrial classification and those resulting from company closure or bankruptcy ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : Figures on notification of redundancies are not held for areas smaller than economic regions.
Deregulation
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which Minister in her Department is responsible for the oversight of deregulation of regulatory matters which fall within the responsibility of her Department.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I am responsible for the oversight of deregulation of regulatory matters within the Employment Department.
Mr. Sproat : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if she will list the main measures of deregulation, or simplification of regulation, which her Department has carried out, or caused to be carried out, since 9 April ;
(2) if she will list the main measures increasing regulation in any area for which her Department has responsibility, which her Department has caused to be put into effect since 9 April.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The Industrial Training (Road Transport Board) (Revocation) Order 1992 wound up the road transport industrial training board, leaving employers to decide how and what to spend on training.
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The following measures have been approved by Ministers and, subject to parliamentary approval, will come into effect from 1 January 1993, implementing EC directives on health and safety : The Management of Health and Safety at WorkRegulations ;
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations ;
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations ; The Manual Handling Operations Regulations ;
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations ; The Display Screen Equipment Regulations.
The Health and Safety Commission, with the approval of my right hon. Friend, has taken the opportunity presented by the need to implement these directives to rationalise existing law and remove unnecessary requirements. Taken together, they will repeal nearly 80 regulations in whole or part, and some 40 sections of Acts.
National Vocational Qualifications
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what qualifications are required by those engaged in assessing national vocational qualifications.
Mr. McLoughlin : The national standards for assessment of national vocational qualifications (NVQs), published in 1991, have been endorsed by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications. Nearly all NVQ awarding bodies have already made a commitment to move towards requiring their assessors to be qualified to these national standards. The National Council for Vocational Qualifications is meeting with awarding bodies shortly to agree a time scale for the introduction of such a requirement.
Remploy
Mr. Anthony Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements have been put in place for improving the effectiveness of Remploy.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : My noble Friend the Viscount Ullswater, on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, has written to the chairman of Remploy approving the first annual performance agreement between the Department and the company. This agreement covers the year from 1 April 1992. It has been negotiated by the chief executive of the Employment Service, on behalf of my right hon. Friend, since new financing arrangements were established between the Department and Remploy in March 1992.
We have agreed targets which are realistic but stretching. These are :
The average number of disabled people employed by Remploy Ltd. will be 8,650, subject to a tolerance of 3 per cent.
At least 190 disabled employees will move from Remploy factories to opportunities under the Interwork scheme or to open employment, or from Interwork to open employment.
The average number of disabled people employed in opportunities under the Interwork scheme will be 675, subject to a tolerance of 5 per cent.
Remploy will keep within an operating deficit of £81.25 million-- which, on average numbers of 8,650, will give a cost per disabled worker of £9,393.
I have arranged for the text of the annual performance agreement to be placed in the Library today.
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DEFENCE
Nuclear Weapons
10. Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he next expects to meet the US defence chiefs to discuss nuclear weapons ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Rifkind : I next expect to meet Secretary Cheney when we are both in Brussels on 10 and 11 December for the meeting of NATO's defence planning committee.
27. Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent studies he has commissioned or received about the safety of British nuclear weapons.
Mr. Aitken : The only recent authoritative study of the safety of UK nuclear weapons has been the review undertaken by a working group led by the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser. The report of this review was publsihed in July this year and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library. The review provides welcome corroboration of our confidence in the safety of our nuclear weapons.
Regiments (Amalgamation)
11. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will now reconsider the proposed amalgamation of the Staffordshire and Cheshire regiments.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No. The amalgamation of the Cheshire regiment and the Staffordshire regiment is due to take place in August 1993 and there is currently no reason why it should not go ahead.
Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received on plans to amalgamate Scottish regiments and battalions ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I have received numerous representations, all of which I have noted.
Royal Naval Reserve
13. Mr. Gill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received regarding the future of the Royal Naval Reserve ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I have received a number of representations. Following the publication of the open government document "The Future of Britain's Reserve Forces", work is under way on the future use of the Royal Navy's volunteer and ex-regular reserves and this will take due account of relevant representations received.
European Fighter Aircraft
14. Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the future of the European fighter aircraft.
Mr. Rifkind : The two studies that were commissioned by the four Governments in August have now reported and I plan to meet with my German, Italian and Spanish counterparts in December to discuss the results. The
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industrial study has shown that significant reductions in the cost of the aircraft are possible. The report on the second study--a reassessment of the operational requirement by our chiefs of staff--has only just been received and I am considering its conclusions.22. Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give details of the current situation regarding the intergovernmental talks concerning the European fighter aircraft.
Mr. Rifkind : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave today to my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans).
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from trade unions concerning the European fighter aircraft and its implications for future employment.
Mr. Aitken : On 29 October I met a trade union delegation representing employees at Rolls-Royce, British Aerospace, Lucas Aerospace and GEC-Ferranti. My Department has also received letters from trade union representatives at GEC-Ferranti in Edinburgh and at GEC Avionics at Rochester.
Shipbuilding Industry
15. Mr. Etherington : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to assist the shipbuilding industry by his policy for procurement.
Mr. Aitken : Our policy is to place orders for ships by competition wherever possible, inviting all yards capable of undertaking the work to tender. This has encouraged the great efforts shipbuilders have been making to reduce overheads and improve their efficiency and competitiveness.
Arms Sales (Middle East)
16. Dr. Moonie : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about his Ministry's policy towards the export of military equipment and technology to Iran and Iraq.
Mr. Aitken : Our policy is to support the UN embargo on exports to Iraq, and to permit exports to Iran only within the policy announced by the then Foreign Secretary on 29 October 1985.
23. Mr. Mandelson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the advice given by his Department concerning the export of military technology to the middle east prior to the Gulf war.
Mr. Aitken : My Department gave and continues to give advice to other Government Departments on the military implications of specific defence exports.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will seek permission from Mr. Frank Machon of the Polmadie Storage and Packing Company Ltd. of Glasgow to make public his correspondence with Her Majesty's Government on the matter of military equipment sales from the United Kingdom to Iraq, Iran and other states on the list of sensitive nations for United Kingdom exports.
Mr. Aitken : Mr. Machon may, if he wishes, publish his own letters to Ministers and officials in my Department
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and their replies to him. He has repeatedly been asked to produce evidence to substantiate his allegations which have already been published in the press.Bosnia
17. Dr. Goodson-Wickes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies have been carried out into the ability of the armed forces to carry out discretionary commitments in addition to deployment in Bosnia.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : We attach great importance to ensuring that future force levels are appropriate for the tasks which the armed forces are asked to undertake and that we do not impose upon them any requirement to which they cannot properly respond. We continue to monitor the position carefully in the light of present and likely future commitments.
25. Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the latest progress on the deployment of troops in Bosnia.
Mr. Rifkind : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member of Colchester, North (Mr.Jenkin) today.
WE177 Nuclear Bomb
18. Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the WE177 free-fall nuclear bomb is expected to reach the end of its operational life.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The WE177 free-fall nuclear bomb is expected to remain serviceable well into the first decade of the next century.
Animals (Tests)
19. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which species of animals are currently used by his Department or its agents for test purposes ; and what tests are carried out.
Mr. Aitken : The species of animals currently used for experimental purposes are rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs and rhesus monkeys. All experiments involving the use of animals fully meet the spirit and letter of the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Yugoslavia
20. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the latest information available to him about the position of United Kingdom troops in the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Rifkind : Regular reports are now placed in the Library of the House each Thursday.
29. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the further participation of British troops in former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : There are no plans for any additional use of British troops over and above those escorting humanitarian aid convoys, including convoys of detainees.
30. Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the level of air
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cover generally and operational aerial intelligence and surveillance available to the United Kingdom commander and his convoys in the former Yugoslavia.Mr. Archie Hamilton : Air support is not part of the concept of the deployment and would fundamentally alter the nature of the operation, risking escalation. NATO airborne early warning aircraft are conducting air surveillance of the Adriatic and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but this is to detect violations of UN sanctions and the no-fly zone, not to provide cover for ground forces.
RAF Sealand
21. Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will visit RAF Sealand to discuss future developments on the site.
Mr. Aitken : I intend to visit RAF Sealand on Wednesday 9 December.
British Aerospace
24. Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with the chief executive of British Aerospace about defence procurement.
Mr. Aitken : My right hon. Friend last met the chief executive of British Aerospace at the Farnborough air show in September.
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